Page 101 of The Fallback

Nadia grinned and pretended not to be able to hear. She cupped her hand behind her ear and continued to smile.

‘I said,what are you doing?’ Rosie raised her voice.

‘I can’t hear you!’ came the muffled reply. Rosie frowned and put her hands on her hips and then watched as Nadia turned and handed the key to Rachel, who Rosie could now see was stood behind Nadia. Rosie looked up at the starless sky and wished she had bailed out of Nico’s car when he had stalled at those lights south of the river. She cursed herself for not being brave enough and worrying about trifling concerns such as traffic accidents.

‘Nadia told me you two needed to talk?’ Rachel shouted through the glass, pointing over Rosie’s shoulder into the dark corner where Mitch sat. With her other hand she reached for a switch on the wall of the kitchen and suddenly fairy lights lit up over the walled garden, bathing everything in a soft, romantic glow.

Rosie glared at Rachel and Nadia who waved happily at her. Rachel pulled the curtain over the back door and presumably slipped back off into the party. Rosie spun round to face Mitch who she could now see more clearly. He had stood up, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

‘Did you plan this?’ she demanded.

‘What? Of course not!’ he scoffed at her. ‘I haven’t even seen Rachel yet; I had been lurking on the edges of the party wondering when I could politely leave.’

Despite herself Rosie smiled. ‘Join the club. So, what do we do now?’ she asked. ‘Is there a gate round to the front somewhere?’

Mitch looked around the garden. ‘Doesn’t look like it,’ he said after studying the walls. ‘It looks like the only way in or out is through that,’ he said, pointing back at the still locked door. ‘Unless you feel like scaling one of these walls and ending up in a neighbour’s garden?’

Rosie glanced nervously at the walls, for a moment sizing up whether it might be possible to do so and then remembering that she was wearing Jasmine’s clothes. Being stuck in a garden in the middle of winter with Mitch seemed preferable to risking the wrath of Jasmine should Rosie return her clothes with rips in them.

‘Maybe not,’ she said.

Mitch looked over at her. ‘Jasmine’s clothes?’ he questioned. Rosie nodded, feeling a sudden pang that Mitch knew her wardrobe well enough to identify her sister-in-law’s clothes and recognising that it meant wall-climbing was off the agenda.

‘That’s where you’ve been hiding out?’

‘I wasn’t hiding out!’

‘Hmm, what would you call it?’ He looked at her questioningly. ‘You certainly haven’t been at your flat because I’ve been staking it out.’

‘You have?’

‘And maybe it’s just my calls you’ve been screening, or perhaps you don’t turn your phone on for anyone anymore?’

Rosie stared down at the ground twisting her hands; this was beginning to get awkward. She didn’t know who she was more frustrated by: Rachel for locking them out here, Jasmine and Nadia for making her come to the stupid party in the first place, or Mitch for making life so unbearably difficult and painful. She looked back at the house, hoping to miraculously spot an open door.

‘It’s still locked,’ Mitch confirmed, watching her nervous glances. ‘We might as well sit down. Presumably at some point someone will let us in.’ He sat back down at the table and pointed to the chair opposite him.

‘And if you don’t want to talk to me then we can always use this to pass the time.’ He reached under his chair and pulled out an almost full bottle of champagne. He offered it towards Rosie. Almost imperceptibly she nodded, and he filled her glass up.

‘Where did you swipe that from?’ she asked as she tentatively sat down opposite him.

‘One of the waiters.’ He topped up his own glass. ‘It seemed like a good idea to bring it outside with me. Rather glad I did now.’

They both sat in silence sipping their champagne. Rosie tried to screw up the courage to ask for Mitch’s help. She knew she had come here specifically to ask him, but now that she was sat here, she didn't know what to say. Eventually she blurted out, ‘Mitch? I need your help.’

Mitch cocked his head. ‘That email?’

Rosie looked confused. ‘How did you know?’

‘Ben told me.’

‘Ben?’ Rosie asked in astonishment.

‘Yup. Kind of funny that. He came to see me straight after that conversation you had with him. I guess he felt guilty.’

‘Oh, so you know?’

‘Uh-huh. And it’s sorted.’

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